


Whisper the Answer

by shadowgamed (humanyubel)



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Blended conciousness, Character Study, Dark Side of Dimensions, Emotional Transference, Gen, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Possession, Short & Sweet, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-20 20:49:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20681726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/humanyubel/pseuds/shadowgamed
Summary: In retrospect, it should've been fairly obvious to Yugi. Well... you know what they say about hindsight.





	Whisper the Answer

**Author's Note:**

> *hurts my own feelings*
> 
> me, writing fanfic for my friends? unrealistic.

Yugi melts into the comforting presence of his other half. Soul wanting nothing more than to meld into Atem's. Simply enjoy the glowing presence of his closest friend.

Atem stands there for a moment. In Yugi's body. Their body. Their hand wrapped around the puzzle's clasp, a soft smile upon their face. And then their eyes open. 

He's at Kaiba's side in an instant, ever the picture of chivalry. But it’s different. Different than helping anyone else to his feet that Yugi’s seen him do.

Yugi floats at Atem’s side and watches the way he kneels at Kaiba’s side, scooping the taller man into his arms with an ease Yugi himself did not yet possess. 

“How have you been?” _ How’s death been treating you? _Yugi cringed as soon as the words were out.

“I’ve been fine. Paradise is paradise.” Atem chuckles, adding a somber “I’ve missed you all.”

Yugi feels sick. Almost physically sick in a way he never has when taking the back seat for Atem.

If he finds Yugi’s question intrusive he voices no complaints. 

Yugi gnaws on his lower lip, pushing bleach blonde bangs out of his face. 

Looking down at Kaiba and Atem didn’t feel right. Whatever it was inside, deep in the center of his being, cried out. _ Wrong, wrong, wrong. _

He… felt like a voyeur. A spirit that couldn’t really influence the environment. His words could fall silent in Atem’s ears. He’d be the only person who could hear or interact with him.

He wonders if death is as disorientating and disquieting as this.

So he moves to ward off the feeling and voice a long-held concern of his.

"Do you regret it?" Yugi whispers, kneeling next to Atem in the middle of the arena. 

A hard look falls over Atem's borrowed face. Their face. His... _ Yugi's face. _ And Yugi's reminded of how much of a hassle it always was to be possessed for the first time in a while.

He’s afraid to receive an answer. Any answer Atem deigns to give is one that has the potential to shatter his heart.

He’d asked Atem so many questions in his head since their parting.

At the time he’d been so sure that their interests had been perfectly synchronized. Atem wanted Yugi to want him to move on. 

But as the months passed he couldn’t help but doubt that maybe he’d known Atem so well he hadn’t even known him at all. 

Atem shrugs after a long moment, staring down at the unconscious man in his arms with a particularly tender look in his eye. 

"You have your regrets and I have mine." he finally admits, stroking Kaiba’s unruly bangs out of his eyes. 

He spent several moments like that. Palm cupping the side of Kaiba’s pale cheek, amethyst eyes roaming Kaiba’s unconscious face, holding him close like, almost as you would with a long lost...lover.

Yugi’s mind buffers.

He would’ve known. Except he hadn’t. What else hadn’t he known?

But more importantly, as their time drew ever nearer to an end, he had to ask Atem one thing.

“Other me,” Yugi begins frantically, Atem looks over his shoulder, a questioning slant to his lips.

Yugi forges on despite the sickening feeling surging through his soul.

“You saved Jounounchi, didn’t you? And you helped us all just now… how did you know to each time?”

“I’ve done much more than that, partner.” Atem says, Yugi can feel him thinking hard on a past memory but Yugi has no clue as to what. 

“...Let’s just say I’ve kept my eye on things.” he shoots Yugi a melancholy smile as he takes Kaiba’s hand in his and presses both his and Kaiba’s hand to the Puzzle’s eye.

“Other me- no, Atem! I… I…” Yugi’s mind blanks, as a golden light envelops them. 

“Partner, if you ever call my name I will listen.” Atem’s voice rings through Yugi's mind, his warmth feeling like too much of a hug to be anything but.

The first switch back is disarming. His own emotions and thoughts tinted a solid shade of Atem. 

The light flash of light and Atem’s departure must have broken whatever spell fell over the stadium.

Yugi drinks in the sight of Kaiba slowly regaining consciousness as the rest of the stadium follows. Transfixed by the way his eyes scrunch up, brunet eyebrows knitting together. Had Kaiba’s eyes always been so blue?

Bluer than Anzu’s even. Framed by short brown lashes.

He could almost kiss him...

Yugi's repulsed by these leftover feelings. No doubting his intuition now.

Kaiba blinks up at him in confusion, trying to process the position they were in. He’d never been willingly so close to Yugi before. And never would if he could help it.

“A…?” he hates how vulnerable his voice comes out.

And then he comes to his senses, lips curling in a grimace.

But there’d been something familiar in his amethyst eyes that left Kaiba’s blood rushing with excitement before it faded and all that was left was Yugi. 

“Get off of me!” he grouses, harshly shoving Yugi back by a firm palm to the other man’s chest.

He kneels a foot in front of Yugi, glaring down at the puzzle pieces cascading from Yugi’s lap. All that hard work and he’d destroyed it like a child having a temper tantrum. Fucking Yugi. Hadn’t he gotten enough of a chuckle out of telling him Atem no longer resided within the puzzle? 

He’d worked hard to quickly and efficiently solve the puzzle.

And to hold him so close like that, like he needed the help. 

Or, his traitorous mind interjects, to hold him so tenderly and leave him hoping it had been Atem for the briefest of moments. 

Kaiba balled his hand up in a fist, anger clouding his vision before the feeling of gold digging into his palm snapped him back into the present. 

Curiously, albeit a tad bit numbly, he turns his palm up and reveals the puzzle piece in his hand. 

The eye of Horus greeted him like an old friend. 

When he looks up from it, Yugi refuses to look at him. He’s carefully gathering up the scattered puzzle pieces and sliding them over to Kaiba.

Kaiba gingerly pockets the puzzle pieces, however, the eye of Horus never parts from his hand.

He stands and makes his way over to Mokuba, shoulders tense. He can feel Yugi’s eyes boring holes into the back of his head.

He presses the piece to his lips and whispers a breathy _“Wait for me, Atem.”_

And very pointedly ignores Yugi’s silent judgment.

In retrospect, it should've been fairly obvious to Yugi. Well... you know what they say about hindsight.

**Author's Note:**

> Quick rats win the race this time  
I saw it with my own eyes  
They were bugged out on the sugar
> 
> Heavy hats take to the skies just the same  
I saw it with my own eyes  
They were high up in the clouds
> 
> It beats just trying to hold you down  
If I said please, would you stick around?  
It beats just driving fast on the highway  
While the wind whips around
> 
> You always thought twice didn't you  
My baby blue?  
You'd say  
'What goes around comes around'  
Didn't you?
> 
> Well now's the time  
Good as any other time  
Inch closer  
Whisper the answer
> 
> It beats just trying to hold you down  
If I say please, would you stick around?  
It beats just driving fast on the highway  
While the wind whips around
> 
> Boy i'm not afraid of  
You tell me what, I'll tell you why  
Wait for me, please wait for me
> 
> It beats just trying to hold you down  
It beats just driving fast on the highway  
While the wind whips you heart around
> 
> \- Gregory and the Hawk, Whisper the Answer


End file.
